Congrats Wimbledon

Sgt Pepper 64

The fans club has returned to the league after 9 years. Amazing story. Club built from scratch by fans for fans, beat Luton on penalties from the southern area league to the football league proper.

Paully D

Brilliant achievement.

I hope they play MK Dons one day and absolutely hammer them!

gimmick

Great to have the real Wimbledon back after the disgraceful treatement by their owners. Heres hoping they can stabilise in the league again..

mikemac

Dropped in earlier and was surprised there was no thread, was just about to start one

Congrats AFC Wimbeldon and well done to their fans

Nine long years out of league football, back now

Firewalkwithme

I've been a Wimbledon fan since the late 80's and this is just fantastic. I'm so happy for the supporters who set this club up because I knew some of them from the old supporters club forum back in the mid-late 90's and I know what this will mean to them.

They had the courage to do what they believed was right and it has paid off in spectacular fashion. 9 years from trials on Wimbledon Common to the Football League, it may never be done again.

I do keep an eye on MK Dons but after today, the game has changed and hopefully, next season will see Wimbledon knock MK out of a cup or two

dartbhoy

Well done Wimbledon,the real dons are back in the football league.

Whippersnapper

It was great to just witness that. Fair play to them and Terry Brown. A great story!

henke

Fantastic story. Hopefully they can continue to progress and can overtake MK Dons eventually.

L'prof

Amazing achievement, another 9 years for PL Football? Come on you Dons!

citytillidie

Would be fun now if MK Dons get relegated next season and AFC get promoted

Welcome back to the Football League to the real crazy gang

mike65

The first 5 levels are the easiest, the next 4 will be much tougher.

Do they play route one/smash other fella style?

Firewalkwithme

mike65 wrote: »

The first 5 levels are the easiest, the next 4 will be much tougher.

Do they play route one/smash other fella style?

Yeah, it's real easy to set up a club from scratch and get into the Football League in 9 seasons... :rolleyes:

Oh and if you had bothered to watched the game, you would know that that answer to your question is definitely 'No'.

mike65

Cartoon_Head wrote: »

Yeah, it's real easy to set up a club from scratch and get into the Football League in 9 seasons... :rolleyes:

Oh and if you had bothered to watched the game, you would know that that answer to your question is definitely 'No'.

Don't roll your eyes at me fella, what I said is true. Doesn't matter how hard the first 5 levels were the next 4 WILL be tougher.

eagle eye

I'm delighted for them, hope they keep moving forward. Would be epic to see them in the Premier League someday. There will be a movie about this for sure sometime and the club could attract a lot of new fans if something like that was done soon. And those fans who set the club up deserve to see the club thrive.

Firewalkwithme

mike65 wrote: »

Don't roll your eyes at me fella, what I said is true. Doesn't matter how hard the first 5 levels were the next 4 WILL be tougher.

Since that is so obvious is it even worth mentioning or did you just come here to try to rain on the parade? Typical really, opinion on everything, expert on nothing.

eagle eye

mike65 wrote: »

Don't roll your eyes at me fella, what I said is true. Doesn't matter how hard the first 5 levels were the next 4 WILL be tougher.

Seriously, how on earth do you know this?

DOC09UNAM

mike65 wrote: »

The first 5 levels are the easiest, the next 4 will be much tougher.

Do they play route one/smash other fella style?

:rolleyes:

No need to be a party pooper mike.

Pro. F

mike65 wrote: »

Do they play route one/smash other fella style?

Nope. I was really surprised today when the game started. Both Wimbledon and Luton played proper passing football for the whole 120 minutes. Both kept it on the ground and both had a commitment to get forward. Wimbledon were the better side and stayed on stronger I think, so they probably deserved the win. Hopefully Luton can get up next season too.

Congratulations Wimbledon. Great stuff!

The_Kew_Tour

Some people are just bitter.

Well done to the club it's a great story and wish them well.

Woody_FX

Awesome News! Love the wombles Hope they get back to the Prem someday.

cson

Jesus Mike, 23 years is a long time to hold a grudge.

Remember the talks years back of them moving to Dublin? Some Norwegian Power Boat Millionaires took them over and wanted to move them iirc. David Conn has a book called The Beautiful Game which details the demise/transformation in MK Dons pretty well if anyone is interested.

Sasquatch76

This is a great football story. Congrats to everyone involved.

Great bloody story

Congrats Wimbledon. I hope they make their way up the divisions, they've done it before.

Jelle1880

Fantastic to hear, well done Wimbledon.

Paparazzo

I was a Wimbledon fan too, got some stick in school in the early 90s for it and wearing my jersey. To be honest, I wouldn't call myself a supporter any more after the mk dons thing. But delighted for the club and everyone involved. Think Marcus Gayle is reserve manager, legend!

pickarooney

Sgt Pepper 64 wrote: »

The fans club has returned to the league after 9 years. Amazing story. Club built from scratch by fans for fans, beat Luton on penalties from the southern area league to the football league proper.

Wasn't Wimbledon versus Luton a premiership fixture not that long ago? Or did the Hatters disappear before the Sky era? Remember their awful plastic pitch (although Plough Lane was scarcely better, being mostly rocks).

Kingdom Bhoy

Delighted for the 'real' Wimbledon. :cool:

busyliving

Delighted for the club and their fans, great story and I'm really hoping for them to draw MK Dons in the 1st rd of the FA Cup next season:D

angel01

I was so delighted for them, back in the league where they belong. I have rooted for them since they started and they deserve it all 100%. I am yearning for the day they play MK Dons and give them the thrashing they deserve

Well done to all at AFC Wimbledon.

Fr Tod Umptious

Where do AFC Wimbeldon play ?

What is their current gate ?

If they do start to move up the ladder will the ground be up to scratch, or will they have to move to meet league standards.

Mint Sauce

Been following Wimbledon since I was a kid. Went to Plough Lane a few times to see Wimbledon FC, followed them during their time at Crystal Palace, and then when AFC Wimbledon were formed after FC became MK Dons, followed them. Through the Combined Counties League, the Ryman Leagues, the Conference Leagues, and the 78 consecutive League games unbeaten, still a club record in English Football.

Today is a happy day. We're back.

Chardee MacDennis

Watched the game yesterday, it was a very high standard, I was really impressed. They have some handy players so I can see then doing decently in league 2!

Anyway well done to them, fantastic achievement.

Mint Sauce

Fr Tod Umptious wrote: »

Where do AFC Wimbeldon play ?

What is their current gate ?

If they do start to move up the ladder will the ground be up to scratch, or will they have to move to meet league standards.

Currently playing in Kingsmeadow in Surrey, they used to groundshare it with Kingstonians until they brought it from them, it was been updated to reach the confernce and possible League 2, but will have to be updated further or even move to progess any furhter. They plan to return to The London Borough of Meron one day. Home gate has been consistanly between 2-3,000+ since day one. When they first started in the Combined Counties League, the top gate for that was 5-600.

Sgt Pepper 64

This is the official site

http://www.afcwimbledon.co.uk/history.php

and a good story here

http://www.guardian.co.uk/sport/blog/2009/apr/28/afc-wimbledon-blue-square-conference-south-champions

grenache

A victory for football. The real Wimbledon are back in business! Hope to see them progressing steadily over the coming years, would be great to have them back in the Premiership some day.

At this stage, its time for Milton Keynes to drop the "Dons" moniker once and for it. Its insulting to the real Wimbledon in London that they should have retained the name for this length of time. They are in no way related to the old Wimbledon of South London. MK Rovers maybe or just plain Milton Keynes would suffice.

Ratzo Rizzo

I'm delighted we're back in the league! A vindication of fan power and one in the eye for the FA!
My love for Wimbledon goes back to when they were still a Southern League team and my Dad used to bring round to Plough Lane to watch them. We lived on Queens Road which is a stones throw from Plough Lane.
My biggest regret was not going to the FA Cup final in '88 and more recently, not going to Eastlands for the play off final. I refuse to miss their first game back in the League proper so when the fixture list appears on the 3rd of July I'll book my travel that very same day!
Anyone else fancy going? Gimme a shout!!

THE DONS ARE BACK!!

greendom

Delighted for Wimbledon too but a shame Luton didn't make it as well. Much better them than money bags Crawley Town, that's for sure.

Guy:Incognito

OT but how does the conference north and south thing work? Kept meaning to look in to that

Mint Sauce

Guy:Incognito wrote: »

OT but how does the conference north and south thing work? Kept meaning to look in to that

Once you go below the Conference Premier. Everything is regionalised, Conference N and S are on the same level, northern based clubs and southern clubs (flight 6 of the football pyramid. EPL being flight 1, Championship being flight 2, and so on), the winners of them go to the conference. The losers drop down to the next level where its regionalised further.

This keeps going and going futher down till you eventually have county leagues, district leagues, and lower.

Using Wimbledon as an example, they started off in what was known as the combined counties league (one made up of a few different counties), and eventully moved up to the Ryman Premier (flight 7), a South East of England Division (made up of serveral counties), they share that level with other regionalised leagues around the country. The winners of those Leagues are fed into the Conference N and S depending on their geographical position.

Not sure if that answers your question. This explains it better though.

LuckyLloyd

Roy of the Rovers stuff.

ValJester

greendom wrote: »

Delighted for Wimbledon too but a shame Luton didn't make it as well. Much better them than money bags Crawley Town, that's for sure.

I feel sorry for Luton, their fans were nearly as cheated by the ownership as Wimbledon's.

K-9

LuckyLloyd wrote: »

Roy of the Rovers stuff.

It is.

Swansea and Wimbledon have amazing parallels.

Both clubs went straight up from the old 4th division to the First Division.

Swansea were one game away from the Conference and 8 years later in the Premiership.

Guy:Incognito

irish-stew wrote: »

Once you go below the Conference Premier. Everything is regionalised, Conference N and S are on the same level, northern based clubs and southern clubs (flight 6 of the football pyramid. EPL being flight 1, Championship being flight 2, and so on), the winners of them go to the conference. The losers drop down to the next level where its regionalised further.

This keeps going and going futher down till you eventually have county leagues, district leagues, and lower.

Using Wimbledon as an example, they started off in what was known as the combined counties league (one made up of a few different counties), and eventully moved up to the Ryman Premier (flight 7), a South East of England Division (made up of serveral counties), they share that level with other regionalised leagues around the country. The winners of those Leagues are fed into the Conference N and S depending on their geographical position.

Not sure if that answers your question. This explains it better though.

Yeah. TBH what I was most interested in is how the North/South thing works with the division above it not beign regionalised and how they cope with northern and southern teams being relegated . Found this bit on that wiki leak:

"If, after promotion and relegation, the number of teams in the North and South divisions are not equal, one or more teams are transferred between the two divisions to even them up again"


Am I readign right that if they end up with say 24 northern teams and 22 southern teams they just stick a southern team in with the northern teams? Kind of makes the north south thing a bit pointless if its true.

Mint Sauce

Guy:Incognito wrote: »

Yeah. TBH what I was most interested in is how the North/South thing works with the division above it not beign regionalised and how they cope with northern and southern teams being relegated . Found this bit on that wiki leak:

"If, after promotion and relegation, the number of teams in the North and South divisions are not equal, one or more teams are transferred between the two divisions to even them up again"


Am I readign right that if they end up with say 24 northern teams and 22 southern teams they just stick a southern team in with the northern teams? Kind of makes the north south thing a bit pointless if its true.

The conference north and south currently consist of 44 teams total regardless of their location. Best way I can describe it is, look at a map with the clubs on it, a line is drawn accross the map so that 22 clubs are north of that line, and 22 south.

This map shows the devide. Any teams relegated/promoted into the boarder counties are devided between the two giving 22 clubs each.



http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:English_Football_Conference_county_coverage.png

fullstop

irish-stew wrote: »

Been following Wimbledon since I was a kid. Went to Plough Lane a few times to see Wimbledon FC, followed them during their time at Crystal Palace, and then when AFC Wimbledon were formed after FC became MK Dons, followed them. Through the Combined Counties League, the Ryman Leagues, the Conference Leagues, and the 78 consecutive League games unbeaten, still a club record in English Football.

Today is a happy day. We're back.

Bur you support Liverpool. Or did you only start supporting them after the MK Dons thing?

Mint Sauce

fullstop wrote: »

Bur you support Liverpool. Or did you only start supporting them after the MK Dons thing?

Supporting who after the MK Dons thing?

Yes I support Liverpool, and have done since the age of 10. But have also followed Wimbledon as they were one of my local sides when I was a kid, also since the age of 10. If they were playing each other, it was Liverpool that I cheered, no question.

In regards to following wimbledon, it was first as Wimbledon FC. Once they moved to MK, stopped following them, and started following AFC Wimbeldon instead when they were formed around the same time.

Deise Tom

Thinks have changed a bit since the Dons wanted to locate to Dublin or was it more of a group of fellows wanting to get involved wanted to locate them over this side of the Irish sea.